Chairman Kim Gwang-soo of NH Nonghyup Financial Group presides over a teleconference meeting at the financial group headquarters in Seoul on March 19 to provide financial support to companies, hit hardest by COVID-19. (Photos: NH Nonghyup Financial Group)

Nonghyup Bank President-designate Son Byung-hwan.

The NH Nonghyup Financial Group has begun a process to elect the next president. A lot of attention is being paid to whether Kim Gwang-soo, incumbent chairman, will be given a second term. Kim’s term is scheduled to expire on April 28.

According to the financial industry on March 17, the Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee had the first discussion to select the next president of the financial group. The committee will recommend candidates for the chairman of the group, outside directors, and CEOs of wholly owned subsidiaries.

In the financial sector, the prevailing view is that Kim will be reappointed. This is because the group’s business results show that Kim has stably managed the group.

By posting 1,218.9 trillion won in net income, the NH Nonghyup Financial Group joined the one trillion won club for the first time in 2018. In 2019, the group recorded the highest-ever net profit of 1,779.6 billion won, up 46 percent from a year before.

The chairman of the NACF was filled with officials from the bureaucracy, including Shin Dong-kyu, Jong-ryong Lim, Yong-hwan Kim, and current chairman Kwang-soo Kim, except for the former chairman Shin Chung-shik in 2012.

Former high-ranking government officials, except Shin Chung-shik, have served as chairmen of NH Nonghyup Financial Group. One of them, Kim Yong-hwan, was given one more year after the end of his two-year term.

In particular, with the recent spread of the new coronavirus, many financial industry insiders expect that the Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee will choose stability over changes as a lot of uncertainties are facing the entire financial sector.

As a financial bureaucrat, Kim experienced both the foreign exchange crisis in 1997, the Daewoo crisis in 1999, and 2008 financial crisis in 2008. Thus, the financial industry insiders expect Kim to be a perfect leader in tackling the ongoing novel coronavirus crisis.

“The possibility of Kim’s reappointment has been expanding to such an extent that no ot her candidates are mentioned inside the NH Nonghyup Financial Group,” said an official of the NH Nonghyup Financial Group.

The prolonged COVID-19 fiasco has been giving troubles to all social classes and industrial sectors. Among them, difficulties are mounting for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners have been hit hardest,” chairman Kim said, asking employees of the NH Nonghyup Financial Group to provide quick financial support to them on March 19.

On the day, the NH Nonghyup Financial Group’s loans to support people suffering from the spread of the epidemic topped 200 billion won.

Chairman Kim checked the status of the group’s financial support for companies put into financial trouble by the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“Now timing is more important than ever,” chairman Kim said during a video conference held to discuss 17 sales headquarters’ responses to the crisis. “We need to fast-track our financial support for those in need by sympathizing with them.”

Chairman Kim listened to reports about local situations and shared the status of responses by regions. In particular, he zoomed in on the status of loans for SMEs and small business owners by carefully checking various procedures such as the reception and handling of loan applications and security screening periods and cooperation with local credit guarantee institutions among others.

NH Nonghyup Financial Group completed the provision of new loans amounting to 240 billion won to SME owners affected by the spread of COVID-19. The loan support including new loans, the deferred maturity of loans and interest payment totaled 271 billion won.

By industry, the group provided 12.3 billion won in loans to industries such as food, travel and lodging, where the percentage of self-employed people is high, and, by regions, 30 billion won in loans to the Daegu and Gyeongbuk region.